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Chapel Hill Mall
Chapel Hill Mall is a one-story, 860,000 sq ft (80,000 m2) enclosed mall located at 2000 Brittain Road in Akron, Ohio. Built by Richard (R.B.) Buchholzer and Forest City Enterprises, it opened on October 12, 1967. They continued to own the mall until 2004, when it was sold to the Chattanooga, Tennessee company CBL & Associates Properties, Inc., who owned it until 2014. The mall features more than 100 stores, with JCPenney as the sole anchor store. Macy's and Sears were former anchors until they closed in spring 2016 and spring 2017, respectively. History Chapel Hill Mall sits on land once owned by Richard Buchholzer's father, J.J. Buchholzer. During the Great Depression, J.J. Buchholzer became owner of a Hower's department store in downtown Akron. The Buchholzers knew Akron would grow to the north, and they felt that a Hower's store should be located on their land. It later became evident that even larger opportunities existed, and the natural choice was a climate-controlled shopping mall. Buchholzer teamed up with Forest City Enterprises to build Akron's first indoor mall. Plans were ready by 1963, but before the mall opened, Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation built Summit Mall on the west side of Akron. In the 1930s, young Richard Buchholzer found what appeared to be an old Indian council circle on his father's land. Because of this, Buchholzer named the development "Chapel Hill". Expansion plans to include a Higbee's store came up numerous times in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A plan was considered in 1988 by part-owner Forest City Enterprises. It included a 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m2) addition for an additional department store. Expansion was again mentioned in 1989.[ A front-page story on the January 31, 1990 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal read "Higbee's Coming to Chapel Hill Mall". The store, along with a food court and additional retail space, would be open by Fall 1991, it said. In 1994, the mall's owners added the food court and retail expansion that exists today. New flooring and ceiling tiles, a new fountain, and new lighting were also added. In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Chapel Hill Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. Major tenants. Chapel Hill Mall features one anchor store: JCPenney, which opened in 1966 before the mall proper. A second store, Macy's, operated in an anchor that was originally occupied by local chain O'Neil's until 1989, May Co. until 1993, and Kaufmann's from 1993 to 2006. Macy's closed in 2016. Sears was a third anchor of the mall which opened in 1967 at the same time as the mall and operated until 2017. There used to be a multi-screen cinema at the mall as well. It opened in October 1966 as a two-screen cinema, and eventually expanded to five screens. In 1987, General Cinemas (owner of the mall's cinema) opened an 8-screen multiplex just west of the mall, and in October 1996, Regal Cinemas opened their 10-screen theater immediately south of the mall. Less than two weeks later, the General Cinemas at the mall closed, and Old Navy took over the former theater until it closed in 2016. Woolworth also operated a store at the mall until 1997. It was later occupied by Gap which has since closed as well. In January 2017 Sears Holdings announced that the Chapel Hill Sears store would be closing the following spring due to declining sales. Layout The mall follows a basic, horizontal plan. The main concourse has the former Sears at one end and the former Macy's at the other. At the very center of this concourse is the fountain. JCPenney is located here. Across the fountain from JCPenney is a corridor leading to the food court, added in the 1990s. The food court is to a carousel. The carousel displays images of Akron-area landmarks and icons. These include the Stan Hywet estate, Blossom Music Center, Derby Downs, a Goodyear Blimp, Firestone Country Club, and the Ohio and Erie Canal. Gallery Videos File:A DYING MALL Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, Ohio|Mall Tour Category:Malls in Ohio Category:Malls in the United States Category:Shopping Malls Category:Single-Level Malls Category:Malls with Multi-Level Stores Category:Malls that opened in 1967